"For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light..."

Joseph Smith

Prophet Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith, Jr., often referred to as the Prophet Joseph Smith, was the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Joseph Smith: A Modern Witness of Christ
In 1820, young Joseph Smith prayed to know which church he should join. In answer to his prayer, God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. Through him they restored the truth about the plan of God. Joseph Smith was a prophet and a powerful witness of Christ.

Visions of Joseph Smith
The Prophet Joseph Smith had his first vision at the age of fourteen while praying in a grove of trees in western New York (see First Vision). This was the first of a series of visions Joseph Smith received, many of which were shared with other persons.

Teachings of Joseph Smith
The revelations to Joseph Smith are clear, direct, and unequivocal, yet his teachings are difficult to characterize or summarize, since they do not fit easily into traditional theological categories, and they always presuppose that more can, and probably will, be revealed by God.

Writings of Joseph Smith
The Prophet Joseph Smith's writing career began at age twenty-two when he commenced translation of the Book of Mormon. At his death seventeen years later, in 1844, he had left a substantial archive for the study of his life and the church he was instrumental in founding.

Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible (JST)
Joseph Smith made a "new translation" of the Bible, using the text of the King James Version (KJV). This work differs from the KJV in at least 3,410 verses and consists of additions, deletions, rearrangements, and other alterations that cause it to vary not only from the KJV but from other biblical texts.

Legal Trials of Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith believed that his enemies perverted legal processes, using them as tools of religious persecution against him, as they had been used against many of Christ's apostles and other past martyrs.

Do Mormons worship Joseph Smith?
Latter-day Saints worship God the Eternal Father in the name of Jesus Christ. They consider Joseph Smith to be a Prophet of God and Apostle of Jesus Christ similar to those men mentioned in the Bible like Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, and John.

Carthage Jail
The old jail in the town of Carthage, Illinois, seat of Hancock County, was the site of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith on June 27, 1844, by a mob of approximately 150 men. Today it is a historical site of the Church and serves as a memorial to prophets of God who suffered martyrs' deaths."

Martyrdom of Hyrum and Joseph Smith
The violent deaths of the Prophet Joseph Smith (age of thirty-eight) and his brother Hyrum Smith (age forty-four), dramatically ended the founding period of the LDS Church. On June 27, 1844, they were mobbed and shot while confined at Carthage Jail in Hancock County, in western Illinois.

 

 

The Wentworth Letter
John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, wrote Joseph Smith in 1842 to request information about the Church for a friend who was writing a history of New Hampshire. The "Wentworth Letter," written by the Prophet Joseph Smith in response to this inquiry, contains a brief History of the Church to 1842, including the key events in the restoration of the gospel.

King Follett Discourse
The Prophet Joseph Smith delivered the following discourse before about twenty thousand Saints at the April conference of the Church, 1844, being the funeral sermon of Elder King Follett. He discusses a number of gospel subjects, including the being and kind of being God is and the immortality of the Intelligence of man.

Fulfilled Prophesies of Joseph Smith
Jeff Lindsay discusses some of the prophetic predictions of Joseph Smith and the fulfillment thereof.

Civil War Prophecy
On December 25, 1832, Joseph Smith prophesied that a war would begin in South Carolina; that the southern states would divide against the northern states; that the South would seek support from other nations, including Great Britain; and that the war would lead to the death and misery of many souls.

Why Did Joseph Smith Become a Mason?
Elder John A. Widtsoe discusses the reason for the connection between Joseph Smith and the Masons

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